Variety of waters in Poland

The Contents Page

Water Waters in Poland Coastal waters Rivers in Poland Character of rivers

Main rivers Precipitation in

Poland Precipitation chart Lakes

The largest lakes in Poland Underground waters Map of the underground waters

Mineralized underground water Swamps and peat bogs

Organisms living in Polish waters

Quality of Polish water

Quality chart of Polish waters The chart of clean waters in

Poland

Water• …appears in the nature in various forms - states of

aggregation

• There are three states of consistence: solid (glaciers), gasous (water vapour, clouds) and liquid (seas, oceans, rivers)

• permanent water circulation in nature changes its state of aggregation

• Living organisms consist of it.

• …is necessary for animals and plants’s life

• Water is the base of life on the Earth

Water in Poland

• System of waters was formed in earlier Tertiary and Quaternary

• Poland hasn’t got much water, because there is a low level of precipitation and some of the underground waters flow immediately into the sea

• Regions rich in water: Wielkopolskie Lake District, especially Kujawy, a part of Mazowiecka Lowland, Podlaska Lowland, Śląska and Kielecka Highlands

Coastal waters

• Two big gulfs of Baltic Sea belong to coastal waters in Poland:

Gdańska (with Pucka Gulf and Wiślany Gulf)

Pomorska (with Szczeciński Gulf)

Rivers in Poland

• 99,7% of rivers flow down into the Baltic Sea

• 0,2% rivers flow down into the Black Sea

• 0,1% rivers flow down into the North Sea

Tha Wisła river nearby Modlin: the mouth of the Narew and the Bug.

Character of rivers

• The Polish river system is asimetrical – it is due to general descent of the surface of the country in the north-west direction. This is also because of the development of the surface of the country in Tertiary and Quaternary.

• There is a mighty dense river system in Karpaty Mountains and Sudety Mountains (there is a great support of rains, varied shape of the surface)

• There is four times rarer river system in the highlands made of carbonate rocks.

• There is a dense river system in the lowlands, where there are permeable rocks.

The Wisła valley nearby Toruń.

• There are 90000 hectares of rivers in Poland

• Snowfalls and rainfalls strengthen Polish rivers.

• High level of water appears : in spring, when snow melts in summer season (from the end of June to mid July)

• The lowest level of waters (so called „niżówki”) usually appears:

In summer-autumn (from August to October) In winter season, in the Carpathians and Lubelska

Highland.

The Wisła nearby Warsaw (Młociny).

• In winter the rivers freeze.

• Average period of ice cover duration osscilate from 1 month in the West to 3 months in the East;

• In the South ice cover lasts longer than in the North

• The water level in lowland rivers changes form 2 to 3 metres,and in mountain rivers from 6 to 9 metres.

The Wisła oxbow

Main riversRiver Total

length Length in Poland

Total area Area in Poland

Wisła 1047 km

1047 km 194,3 thousand km2

168,6 thousand km2

Odra 854 km 742 km 119,1 thousand km2

106,2 thousand km2

Warta 808 km 808 km 54,6 thousand km2

54,6 thousand km2

Bug 772 km 587 km 39,4 thousand km2

19,3 thousand km2

The Odra valley.

Precipitation in Poland

• Average annual precipitation is 600 mm

• 2/3 of annual precipitation is in the warm season (summer)

• 1/3 of annual precipitation is in winter

• The highest precipitation is in the mountains

• The lowest precipitation is in Central Poland

• Most of snowfall appear in January

• Snow in The Beskidy Mountains and The Sudety Mountains appears since September

• Snow in The Tatra Mountains rarely appears in summer season

• Snow cover is even 1-2 metres thick in the mountains.

Lake Śniardwy

Lakes• There are about 9300 lakes in Poland

• Lakes take up 3,2 thousand km2 (about 1% Poland area) and their total volume is 17,4 km3

• They are placed irregularly

• Most of lakes (83% of general number and 95%of area) are dated back to the postice age and concentrate generally in lake districts:

A. Pomorskie Lake District - 3381 small lakesB. Mazurskie Lake District- 2061 big lakesC. Wielkopolskie Lake District - 1347 of different areaD. The deepest lake - Hańcza(108,5m) That are mostly post glaciers lakes.

• There are also lakes in Poland which:

were formed by mountain glaciers and they are in The Tatra Mountains (on the Polish side, there are 11 lakes over the surface of 1 ha) and TheKarkonosze Mountains (2 lakes)

are coastal lakes (Łebsko Lake, Gardno Lake)

are oxbow lakes (in larger river’s valley)

are mid dune lakes (especially numerous nearby Warta and Noteć Valleys)

are karst lakes (Łęczyńsko –Włodawskie Lake District)

are delta lakes (Dąbie Lake at the mouth of The Odra, Druzno Lake at the mouth of the Wisła river)

Morskie Oko glacier lake

The largest lakes in Poland

Lake Area

Lake Śniardwy 113,4 km2

Lake Mamry 102,8 km2

Lake Łebsko 71 km2

Lake Jamno

Underground waters

• The appearance of underground waters in Poland is keeping mainly with the shape of geological structures and aqulizers (freatic waters) and as a result they are on different level of depth.

• 75% of renewable resources of underground waters in Poland are in water layers from Quaternary.

Their number increases from south to north (that are porous waters)

In the areas of central and north Poland the main aqualizers consist of mid-morains sediments (sand and gravel).

Among impermeable rock layers, in geological basins, there are water under the hydrostatic pressure (so called artesian waters)

• Karst waters are the special type of underground waters, filling slits in permeable carbonate rocks( Krakowsko-Częstochowska Highland, Niecka Nidziańska, West Tatra Mountains); they are appearing on the surface as abundant water spring, so called wywierzyska (karst springs).

• The resources of underground waters are not known; it is assumed that the resources of ground waters amount 76,5 km3;

• Annually, the amount of about 1/3 of the resources is renewed.

Recourses of underground waters  big

  medium

  small

  very small

Mineralized underground waters• Waters flowing from deeper rock layers are

usually stronger mineralized.• Following kinds of mineral waters in Poland: I. brine water (Kołobrzeg, Ciechocinek,

Inowrocław), II. sulfuric water (Busko-Zdrój, Solec-Zdrój), III. ferrious water (Nałęczów), IV. carbonated acidulous mineral waters (Krynica,

Żegiestów, Polanica-Zdrój); V. thermal springs, for example Cieplice Śląskie-

Zdrój (44°C), Lądek-Zdrój (29°C), Duszniki-Zdrój (19°C).

Swamps and peat bogs

• Swamps and peat bogs occupy 14,7 thousand km 2 (4,7% Poland area) and stores about 23 km3 of water

• There are peat bogs and swamps in northern and eastern Poland, in Biebrza and Narew Valley

• There are 100 artificial basins besides the natural ones

Swamp

Organisms living in Polish waters

• In the fresh water there live mammals like : otter and many species of birds: grebes, ducks, gulls (from Baltic Sea the common gull and the silver gull).

• The most often species of birds are : łyska, grebe and duck krzyżówka

• In the past, when the rivers in Poland weren’t poisoned, in Wisła lived sturgeon, stream trout, salmon, sea trout

• Typical fish for clean water : bleak, roach, bream, tench, carp, prech, pike, eel.

• Crucian carp and wels are immune for polutions.

• In deep lakes with great amount of oxygen, live: pike-perch, whitefish, vendace

• Baltic Sea is scanty in water animals, because of low water salinity on Polish coasts (5 times lower than typical ocean salinity):

1. There aren’t any typical groups of water animal, for example cephalopods

2. There are only some of snails and mussels and 1 common species of medusa

3. Baltic mussels and medusas are smaller than in North Sea 4. Very common is crustacean (relict from Ice Age) similar to

centipede.5. Cod, herring, sprat, some of species flounder, salmon and eel

are also fished. 6. Seals: grey and common appear very seldom.

Swans

The plants in Polish lakes

• Grążel żółty

• Rdestnica połyskująca

• Rdest ziemnowodny

• Jaskier wodny

• Strzałka wodna

The animals in Polish lakes

• Miętus

• Roach

• Mulik

• Crayfish

Classification of water quality

Waters divide into:• I class water – about 3% length of rivers• II class water — about 15% length of rivers• III class water — about 30% length of rivers• Other waters - less than 50% length of rivers

Water quality in lakes is decreasing, because much pollution flow into lakes and rivers.

Classification of water quality in Poland

THE END

Authors:Authors:

Marta BrzóskaMarta Brzóska

Katarzyna HarężlakKatarzyna Harężlak

Magda HeflichMagda Heflich

Justyna SoszkaJustyna Soszka

Piotr SzypułaPiotr Szypuła

Damian WydraDamian Wydra